To Listen is the Greater Part of Prayer

How did you learn to pray? My mother taught me. Every night, before bed, we knelt down and said 'thank yous', 'sorrys' and then there was 'please bless...Mummy, Daddy, Nana, Taid, Auntie so and so, Uncle thingumy...' It could go on for quite while.

That's not so different from a lot of adult prayer. Some of us go in for sincere, conscientious lists of people and concerns we are committed to. Others go in for the dutiful, disciplined offering of set forms of prayer that mark out the times of day and the seasons. Still others regale the Almighty with desires, believing that if we have enough faith, these desires will somehow become consonant with God's and will therefore 'come to pass' as the scriptures put it. Most of us include genuine expressions of gratitude and regret as we go along the way but a very big chunk of much prayer is either intercessory or liturgical, the former expressing desire and the latter involving the recitation of the words of scripture or a denominational text. When words fail us we have recourse to 'your will be done'. A particular dislike of mine is the pastoral conversation that is directed into prayer when things get a bit tricky; I'm suspicious that there's an unacknowledged agenda or that it's a device for exerting covert pressure to conform.

Recently re-reading a biography of Jung, I was struck by a passage in which he describes overhearing his father (a minister) praying. 'I saw how hopelessly he was entrapped by the church and its theological thinking' (p.20, Jung: A Biography, Gerhard Wehr, 2001). This gave me pause for thought. So much prayer is constrained either by our own semi-acknowledged desires and horizons or by what church tradition has told us it is acceptable to think, feel and say. Much Christian prayer seems to miss out on the truly radical aspect of relationship with the Divine which is listening - listening to ourselves to discover the truth about our innermost motives and our habitual behaviours, listening for the stirring of that which is of God within us, within others and within the political and natural events around us. This takes time, discipline, repetition and a persistent commitment to an openness of attitude that lays aside dogma and systematisation.

There are many books about this kind of listening (often called contemplation). It's an inward journey, but also a journey shaped by and seen in outward influences. Here are some questions that might prompt us to review how deeply we listen. The more profoundly we listen in everyday life, the more we increase our capacity to listen to God and vice versa. 

• Who have you really listened to today?
• Who has really listened to you and how did you know?
• How often do you find yourself anticipating what's going to be said or thinking about your reply before the speaker finishes?
• When did you last hear something that changed you?
• When did you last stop to listen to something in the natural world?
• What was communicated in the last memo you read?
• How many repetitions does it take you to pick up a short tune?
• Do you often forget or mis-hear simple instructions?
• When did you last hear something truly unexpected?
• Who never listens to you?
• Who do you tend not to listen to?
• When did you last sit in silence for 10 minutes...half an hour...an hour?      

A Non-English Warning About the Johnson Brexit Deal

Do you support the Withdrawal Deal Boris Johnson has negotiated with the EU and believe that the Union of the four countries within the UK is secure? I would like to invite you to consider the Deal carefully from a non-English perspective and, in particular, the potential impact of imposing such a Deal, without a second referendum, on the countries of Scotland, N. Ireland and Wales.

• It is perceived as undemocratic in Scotland where the vote was 'remain' and may quite quickly lead to the departure of Scotland from the UK. 
• It is perceived as undemocratic in N Ireland for the same reason and draws N Ireland closer to S Ireland.
• It means N Ireland will be treated differently from the rest of the UK.
• It creates political tensions in N Ireland.
• It creates new issues that may lead to complication and disruption at Welsh ports, fuelling the independence movement in Wales and changing Wales' relationship with Ireland (both countries).
• It is predicted to lead to a 6.4% reduction in GDP (which is more than 4% greater than Teresa May's Deal here). This will impact Scotland, N Ireland and Wales heavily with the loss of industries and jobs. 

I grew up on the West coast of Wales during the period when the first Plaid Cymru MPs were elected, at the time of Tryweryn (the flooding of a Welsh valley, including a village, to provide water for Liverpool) and during the time of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales. It was also the era when Cymdeithas yr Iaith (the Welsh Language Society) were at the height of their direct action campaign. However, I have never seen so many people out on the streets demonstrating in favour of Welsh independence as I have recently. The protests have not been only in the Welsh heartlands but in areas that have traditionally shown little interest in independence; they have not been widely reported by the English media. This alerts me to the fact that, in England, people may underestimate the strength of feeling that is around. People in all three Celtic nations are unhappy that their voices are seemingly disregarded. The Deal currently under consideration is, I think, likely to lead to the eventual break up of the UK or at least to many years of debate about how the Celtic nations can (or why they should not) separate from England and join the EU. There is a growing perception in Scotland and Wales that their voices are not heard and their interests are not well served by Westminster.


For this reason I ask you to support all moves to take substantially more time to formulate and scrutinise any deal and to put a choice between that deal and remaining in the EU to all four nations in a referendum. 

I often hear people say, 'Oh Scotland and, more particularly Wales, could never make a go of it on their own.' This article by Adam Price (a Plaid Cymru MP) here offers some food for thought. I had no idea that Wales is the fifth largest exporter of electricity in the world!!